What games are you playing now?

November 7th, 2009, 16:35

Originally Posted by JDR13
Some friendly advice….. keep your expectations low for Borderlands.

Why? I think it is really good - for *what it its*. And THE GAME knows what it is, which is a mindless romp with some nifty little skills and leveling elements. Problem I see is too many folks had misinterpreted what the game would offer.

Originally Posted by txa1265
Why? I think it is really good - for *what it its*. And THE GAME knows what it is, which is a mindless romp with some nifty little skills and leveling elements. Problem I see is too many folks had misinterpreted what the game would offer.

Maybe people misinterpreted because 2K Games made it sound like so much more. I won't pull any punches here, the game f*cking sucks. If they had been 100% honest about the it, and just said it was going to be a mindless shooter with money and ammo under every rock, then I wouldn't have been so annoyed.

I've only played the tutorial before that Dragon Age craving overtook me , but it's not too bad…..so far. Keywords in that sentence were "so far". I didn't really expect too much out of it other than maybe a fun shooter and it has delivered that. Actually, my expectations were quite a bit low already because I've been reading around the net how much "cooler" the game is with coop play and I'm just not in the mood for coop.

The single player part of the game isn't as bad as the reviewers made out, but I've only played an hour or so.

This week I struggled hard to get all my books read during the week. I failed, I had to read about 60 pages this morning… but still… this gave me an entire afternoon with Pools of Radiance 2. You may ask, with the recent flux of games, shouldn't I get my hands dirty with Risen, Dragon Age or Divinity 2? No, I do not dare to. I do not have time to get stuck in a game right now, I want one that I can play for awhile, then pause for a couple of weeks. I know that up ahead there will be even more to read. I save the RPG's for winter and hope that my next university course wont be this stressful.

So how's Pool of Radiance 2? Well, compared to Baldur's Gate, Arcanum, Fallout, Icewind Dale etc it's rather poor… however, it's still playable, and frankly, compared to the recent era of disappointing RPG's it can be quite comforting. I like the attention they have given to ambient RPG-style comments that pop up all the time. It often sets a spooky or mysterious tone to what's going on. The battles can be quite long and it's a really hardcore game. I have allowed myself to cheat by maximizing the HP but it's still hard.

The game begins outdoors but soon enough you enter a massive dungeon, truly massive. It's way larger than anything I have ever seen in a game like this. Each floor can take an entire day to explore and the dungeon consists of about 5 floors. Makes the dungeon in the beginning of Divine Divinity appear small.

— Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind. - John F Kennedy
An eye for an eye, and soon the whole world is blind. - Mahatma Gandhi
The world is my country. To do good is my religion. My mind is my own church. This simple creed is all we need to enjoy peace on earth. - Thomas Paine

Originally Posted by JDR13
Maybe people misinterpreted because 2K Games made it sound like so much more. I won't pull any punches here, the game f*cking sucks. If they had been 100% honest about the it, and just said it was going to be a mindless shooter with money and ammo under every rock, then I wouldn't have been so annoyed.

It sucks? Are you serious? I can't imagine disagreeing more - I mean, the shooter mechanic works, the performance works, leveling works, and so on … so by default it has advantages over the majority of recent games in the action-RPG genre. And it is a *much* better shooter than FO3 and Red Faction Guerrilla, though it lacks things that make both of those games better.

Originally Posted by txa1265
It sucks? Are you serious? I can't imagine disagreeing more - I mean, the shooter mechanic works, the performance works, leveling works, and so on … so by default it has advantages over the majority of recent games in the action-RPG genre. And it is a *much* better shooter than FO3 and Red Faction Guerrilla, though it lacks things that make both of those games better.

For what is was supposed to be, or what it *could* have been, yes, it sucks. Maybe I was just expecting too much, but when I play a game that was hyped up to be a FPS-RPG hybrid with "depth", I expect more than a shooter with some generic skills tacked on, and ludicrous amounts of money and ammo randomly scattered all over the place.

Originally Posted by JDR13
For what is was supposed to be, or what it *could* have been, yes, it sucks. Maybe I was just expecting too much, but when I play a game that was hyped up to be a FPS-RPG hybrid with "depth", I expect more than a shooter with some generic skills tacked on, and ludicrous amounts of money and ammo randomly scattered all over the place.

So by that token does Risen 'suck' based on what it could have been? Doesn't *every* game? I mean, we were talking about this game months ago as being a mindless cop-op shooter, weren't we? Does every game with too many drops 'suck'? And doesn'the lack of depth doom EVERY action-RPG to 'suckage?

Originally Posted by txa1265
So by that token does Risen 'suck' based on what it could have been? Doesn't *every* game? I mean, we were talking about this game months ago as being a mindless cop-op shooter, weren't we? Does every game with too many drops 'suck'? And doesn'the lack of depth doom EVERY action-RPG to 'suckage?

No, because Risen wasn't advertised as something more, you seem to be missing the point. And we were talking about this game perhaps being *more* than a minless co-op shooter, because, according to the devs, it wasn't supposed to be just that.

JDR, you're talking about those trailers of "If a role-playing game and a shooter made a baby"?

I think we read a little too much into the role-playing aspect of those ads(I did as well). If you read this interview with Randy Pritchford, his idea of role-playing was Diablo. He wanted to mix the excitement of a shooter with the level ups and loot of Diablo. IMO, he did a good job. I played a little more and it's still pretty fun. Though no red potions is making my style of play deviate from the usual run in guns blazing, or spells blasting in Diablos case.

Originally Posted by JemyM
So how's Pool of Radiance 2? Well, compared to Baldur's Gate, Arcanum, Fallout, Icewind Dale etc it's rather poor… however, it's still playable, and frankly, compared to the recent era of disappointing RPG's it can be quite comforting. I like the attention they have given to ambient RPG-style comments that pop up all the time. It often sets a spooky or mysterious tone to what's going on. The battles can be quite long and it's a really hardcore game. I have allowed myself to cheat by maximizing the HP but it's still hard.

The game begins outdoors but soon enough you enter a massive dungeon, truly massive. It's way larger than anything I have ever seen in a game like this. Each floor can take an entire day to explore and the dungeon consists of about 5 floors. Makes the dungeon in the beginning of Divine Divinity appear small.

I personally enjoyed it No, it's not BG, IWD or anything but once you get into it, it's quite fun in it's own way. Besides, I had to play it because my husband had bought me the Collector's Edition hehe.

Originally Posted by JemyM
The game begins outdoors but soon enough you enter a massive dungeon, truly massive. It's way larger than anything I have ever seen in a game like this. Each floor can take an entire day to explore and the dungeon consists of about 5 floors. Makes the dungeon in the beginning of Divine Divinity appear small.

I just wished they had put more furniture or whatever into these dungeons. I vaguely remember a rumor saying they had been cut off money towards the end - like Divinity, too …

— “ Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage – to move in the opposite direction.“ (E.F.Schumacher, Economist, Source)

Originally Posted by Alrik Fassbauer
I just wished they had put more furniture or whatever into these dungeons. I vaguely remember a rumor saying they had been cut off money towards the end - like Divinity, too …

Originally Posted by JDR13
No, because Risen wasn't advertised as something more, you seem to be missing the point. And we were talking about this game perhaps being *more* than a minless co-op shooter, because, according to the devs, it wasn't supposed to be just that.

Perhaps I missed the hype machine that you obviously felt screwed by, but what I was going on was this:

Borderlands combines the best elements of Gearbox Software's first-person action titles with player customization and vehicular combat.

Evaluated against THAT … it is a solid but not great game.

But as you say, just like some people don't like Baldur's Gate or the Gothic games or Planscape Torment because they don't deliver whatever thing that person is looking for … this game isn't for you.

That doesn't make it suck, though. And that is the only reason I've stuck with this line of discussion - because from an objective standpoint, measured against the statement from the developers above, they have executed very well.

The game "sucks" to me, that's just my opinion. I'm not berating you because you like the game, so I don't expect you to needle me because I don't like it.

Originally Posted by txa1265
That doesn't make it suck, though. And that is the only reason I've stuck with this line of discussion - because from an objective standpoint, measured against the statement from the developers above, they have executed very well.

I'm sorry, but there's nothing objective about it. That is simply your opinion, which I have no problem with, but please don't try to pretend it's something else.

Originally Posted by Haitham
Dungeon Lords will next on my list, do you recommend?

Dungeon lords is fun and I've passed it twice now, but you can not expect more than what it is. Sorta like Borderlands. If you expect too much you will be dissapointed.

Dugeon Lords is empty, spawns crazy amounts of baddies, still has bugs (I believe) no story whatsoever, and all other kinds of problems with it, but for some crazy reason it's still fun to just go in there and blast the living bejesus out of everything. Character development needs improvement, but still it's another one of the reasons I liked it. I liked making my bad ass ninja guy (can't remember the name of the class now baduko or something like that). The best thing about Dungeon Lords was that it allowed me to play with my friends and family back home. Finally, an over the shoulder rpg game that I can play with my family.

I tried to get creative and go for the weaker class combinations. The weaker classes were a lot more fun to play, imo. It get's boring really quick if you can kill everything with one swing. Nether Magic was also intersting. Finding the combinations of ingrediants to different spells was fun for awhile. Though it gets tedious trying to make the same spell over and over again. They should have made it easier to make a lot of spells at the same time. Plus there are few Nether Magic spells that are still broken. You can mix together the ingrediants and make the spell, but it does absolutely nothing. And the more powerful spells that require a certain type of ingrediant are only available in the last level of the game, by that time it's almost worthless to get those spells.

My opinion on this game is definetly in the minority, there are a few here who passionetly hate the name Dungeon Lords and anything to do with it (all kinds of reasons mostly because they made you buy the CE if you wanted the complete version of the game). So if you want a mindless rpg game that isn't Diablo give this one a try. If you want more than that then don't play this game. You will just be bored to tears.

I'm just surprised, because you aren't one of the new folks here who are constantly saying 'Risen sucks' or 'Dragon Age sucks' or whatever because it isn't another Oblivion/Halo/whatever … and generally our opinions fall pretty well in line, and while I am surprised to see myself spending this many words on a game that means nothing to me, 'sucks' is a word I'd expect you to reserve for a true crap game rather than a solid but forgettable game like this.

Originally Posted by txa1265
I'm just surprised, because you aren't one of the new folks here who are constantly saying 'Risen sucks' or 'Dragon Age sucks' or whatever because it isn't another Oblivion/Halo/whatever

That's why I made sure to be clear that Borderlands just sucks to me. I wasn't trying to convince anyone else that they had to think the same way.